It’s frustrating. It’s like witnessing 2 people talking, but with a language barrier, which one person attempts to overcome by raising their voice. That is what it is like when people tell me that they feel badly that I do not have a relationship with God, such as they. It’s like we are not speaking the same language. Apparently, there has been discovered a protein that exists in chicken’s ovaries necessary for the production of eggs, therefore not present in the egg in that it precedes, thereby proving that the chicken came before the egg. That should put the argument to rest. For me, it was the fact that the egg would have needed to gestate and incubate, it would have needed something to care for it at birth, to protect from predators, to transport it, just like every animal and insect does.

The problem with this God figure, is that God is who people need him to be, and in the worst way. God can be described as jealous and vengeful, notwithstanding the punishment set forth from the onset- suddenly, there was a sense of shame to gaze upon the naked body, and women would have painful menses, labor and delivery, and then the subsequent unleashing of wraths — floods, firestorms, mass deaths of male offspring, plagues and such…and despite that once one gets older and realizes, not only did it not make sense back then, but now there is more knowledge available to society at large; the individual has enough basic education and knowledge to know that Woman is not born of Adam’s rib, Man was not created in the image of a floating spirit, beyond the clouds there is outer space as opposed to heaven…

I stress and emphasize common sense, & will give the following example: shit stinks, because God does not exist. I hate roaches. I used to have nightmares about giant roaches. I hate maggots and meal worms. Even typing it made me envision it, made me almost gag. I hate vomit. I’m actually emetophobic. I used to say that when I die, I am going to ask God why He created these disgusting things. A person of faith will feed you the crap that we are all God’s creatures and beautiful in our own ways, but science will tell you that evolution is to blame and science will make sense. The key to developing critical thinking skills is to transfer concepts to new scenarios. In fact, that is the key to learning anything–the ability to transfer and apply knowledge elsewhere. Nonetheless, this brings me to feces. Once I had had a course or 2 in biology and chemistry (and wherever I learned about evolution), I was able to discern that, perhaps, the reason feces smells is that there was a time that people had no toilets and to come upon some feces, one needed to know, beyond a doubt, to stay away. After knowing that bacteria gives off waste and releases odors and having a concrete understanding of digestion, I was able to deduce that this is a function of evolution. Evolution is large scale adaptation and the function of adaptation is survival and only that which has been able to evolve i.e. adapt i.e. grow and change, persists. This being the reason that fish, birds and mammals all know not to eat shit. But wait! Dogs eat shit. There’s exceptions to every rule.

The point is, that it is, without a doubt, a failed, although well orchestrated, attempt to explain the origin of the universe and all that it contains as the work of an entity called God. What has clearly happened is that throughout history, Man has attributed what is out of his own control, to be the work of volatile, extraterrestrial characters, that are for some reason, highly invested in the daily goings-on of the inhabitants of Earth. It is quite clear that the more that science revealed to us, the more upheaval arose in traditional societies. New belief systems, and therefore customs by which to adhere, were being introduced all in the attempts appease the gods in exchange for favor, if not in life, then in the afterlife. Rules about how to conduct oneself were imposed as truths. History and geography outlay patterns in religious themes and timing. All of these patterns are simply ignored by believers. Patterns of huge populations being misguided, yet faithful worshipers are examples of the fog that I reference in my blog title. The Christians see the oppression of the Muslims, the Muslims see the heathenism of the Westerners, the Jews see the money (jk, just seeing if you’re playing attention). How can one subscribe to the belief that the Greeks, Romans, Hindu, Mayan, Egyptians and various other worshipping populations were wrong about their gods because the one true God allowed all these other children of His to be so literally out of touch that, unless they are fortunate to run into one of his saved children, their souls shall simply perish.

Some people are born blind or without a limb, or mentally challenged or actually unattractive. Some people are born with intelligence, healthy bodies and great looks. This is not the work of God. It’s the work of the human body. Going back to the way that evolution, adaptation and biology work, and similar to the creation of the Earth and it’s atmosphere, there are a series of processes taking place unbeknownst to Man.

The insistence upon the existence of God is narcissistic. To begin, today’s 3 major religions rely on the notion that, basically, the world revolves around Man. Despite scientists’ and astronauts’ discoveries about “the heavens”, belief in a God that created Man specifically for his amusement, persists and, therefore, implies that the universe revolves around Man. I come to this conclusion because, despite religion being older than many of the scientific theories around which our modern life and technologies revolve i.e. theory of relativity, theory of gravity, theory of evolution et. al., too many people hold-fast to old wives tales and superstitions as if they are, in fact, tried and true. On the contrary, these stories, myths, “historical accounts” have been disproved, in most cases, by simple logic.

I say narcissistic and childish, because it takes a level of mental and emotional maturity to recognize that you, as a human being, are just one in billions that currently occupy the Earth and that your lifetime is very short–shorter than a blink in comparison to the life of the Earth–much-less the universe. Now consider all the blinks over the past century. Then consider all the blinks before that. And although I was using the blink to represent a measure in time, another analogy can be drawn using the human body. Like the human body, the universe works both independently and respectively of itself. For instance, the moon revolves around the Earth and the Earth is effected by the gravitational pull. Like the human body, there is much more than meets the eye. Like the human body, the whole is made of multiple components: atoms, cells, electrons. If we have learned nothing from science, have we not learned that everything comes from something?

It happens all the time. People don’t believe or understand a concept until it happens to them. In fact, it rubs me the wrong way when something tragic happens, such as losing a child, losing your home to a fire, becoming paralyzed, and people say something to the effect of a person not being able to understand unless it happened to them. Not so much. In fact, there is a word for when you DON’T have to share the same experience to understand the sentiment and that word is empathy. Granted, there are many a sociopath which lack empathy, but sociopathy is not typical. It is not because people are otherwise incapable, but that we are indoctrinated with this notion that we are all God’s children and can call on our heavenly father by bending our knees and posturing our hands. Just like that, we can call on the creator of the universe because that is how important each individual that is ever conceived really is. People don’t realize how much they feel the world started with them. It’s like how every generation thinks that theirs was better than the one that followed; same thing for music, for style and for political platforms. It’s like how one can’t imagine their parents as a child. It’s like how once a technology (electricity, cars, computers, TV, cable, a lighter, a mircowave et. al.) becomes mainstream, it’s hard to imagine life without it. It’s not something one can prevent, not having any experiences prior to birth. It’s something that everyone can relate to at some point in time, but that the sooner is overcome, the better and more prosperous one can be. That is called learning from the past. Right now, we are not learning from the past but rather revisiting and encircling it.

We are still evolving. People can’t believe that. Despite humans being the most adaptable mammals, despite changes in our biology in reaction to our environment (air, water, food etc) and the new allergies and diseases, because of the brevity of our lifespan, people do not see the evolution therefore cannot believe in evolution–but since it’s a comfy-cozy illusion to snuggle up with at night, they believe in God. The funds that people shovel toward the church could go to better use in learning about our origins if the whole of society could just accept the absence of deities. Instead of arguing about Allah, Yahweh, Christ or WHOEVER, we should be studying dark energy and dark matter. Instead of adults perpetuating the commercialized religious fables, parents should teach their kids to seek and find legitimate answers and be excited about science.

As a child, I was never sure why it was necessary to make up a Santa Claus for whom I should behave. It was good enough behaving for my mother…why would I concern myself with a strange man that never avails himself and only stops by once a year to drop off gifts. That sounds like an absentee-father, not someone to be revered.

Not believing in God doesn’t have to be so tragic. In fact, it brought me great relief to no longer have to justify the atrocities that my “loving God” seemed to damn near bestow upon entire populations. Not believing in God forces one to own their choices and circumstances. Not believing in God causes many to pay more attention to science and nature–they are the true guiding light. Studying science and nature will tell you more about your future than the Bible or any other holy book. Science is vast and includes the study of human behavior, philosophy as well as study of the stars. In fact, science is actually interesting and not open for interpretation. Narcissism is a form of low self-esteem. The narcissist has to be he most important or they feel insignificant. That is what religion offers many–that feeling of importance; but it’s not real. The universe lends no pardons to the religious man. Narcissism is why the Bible says that “God created Man in His own image”. The reality is that Man created God in his own image. The image that is most aptly depicted of Jesus is the reflection of the conglomerate that created and violently imposed Christianity on masses. Those blind sheep still chew the cud today.

Rampage
A Christian man chases a suspected Seleka officer in civilian clothes with a knife near the airport in Bangui, Central African Republic on Dec. 7. The CAR was plunged into turmoil in March when an alliance of Seleka rebels, who are from the country’s Muslim minority, seized power and went on a months-long rampage of looting, raping and killing. Both Christian and Muslim mobs went on retaliatory lynching sprees as French forces deployed to the capital to ease the tension. The Seleka man was taken into custody by French force who fired warning shots to disperse the crowds.

People pray for every thing one can imagine. People pray to win the lottery, people pray to have patience with others, people pray for good health, people pray that their favorite team wins…whether people’s prayers are answered or not, they continue to pray. If there’s one thing that people will continue to do incessantly, despite not seeing an results, it’s pray. It’s strange that in the Middle East are some of the most orthodox religious groups, yet they have not had “peace in the Middle East” since Biblical times… or so it seems. The image below is said to depict Christians encircling and protecting Muslims as they pray. Maybe we should pray about it

I can appreciate that, despite their differing beliefs, they are able to respect each other’s right to worship. I can see how it may be heartfelt to see 2 different groups come together amidst the violence. The problem is that there is so much violence. just another day around the way

This seems so commonplace. The people no longer see phased as grandpa whips out a 9mm and busts shots in the middle of the block. When it’s all said and done, at the end of the day, no progress is made but the body count rises.

This happens in a country where, I would imagine, that the majority of the population identifies as religious. If the population is Muslim and prays to the East 5 times a day, has God forsaken them? Why the hell are such devout worshipers caught up in such warfare? At what point do the victims stop bowing to pray and start gearing up to make moves? Why aren’t more of the millions of oppressed peoples standing up in protest? The answer is that they have been indoctrinated. They continue to be victims because at this point, they are no longer being kept captive but are, instead, institutionalized. The same way that convicted felons become institutionalized, they no longer believe there are other options. They have been given the rules and the consequences for questioning them. I’m so sure that in the hot deserts of the Middle East, the majority of those women praise Allah everyday that they are forced to be clothed from head to toe, never to share with the world their smile, their voice, their creativity, their opinion, their individuality, lest she be caned. These images aren’t an iota of the violence that has been going on in this region, costing the lives of innumerable innocent bystanders, women and children.

Airwick has the audacity to boast that their product is 4 in 1. Four of what, you may ask? Is is it 4 products? Does it have 4 functions? What does it do that the other air fresheners do not? The answer is that the 4 are: 1. Premium fragrance. 2. Eliminates odors. 3. Lasts up to 1 hour. 4. Acts in seconds. What’s the problem with that? The marketers know that a person will buy the product simply because they see 4-n-1. It is pretty well understood that people don’t question everything they should. The problem is that “premium fragrance” is not only expected, but a subjective description. The fact that it is a fragrance is understood. Eliminates odors. Ok. There’s one function–the primary function. That it lasts up to an hour is a quality rather than an activity such as eliminating odors. Finally, it acts in seconds… it’s spray. One would expect nothing less than immediate results. As I understand it, nearly every aerosol air-freshener works pretty much the same way– in seconds. When it’s all said and done, it is not 4 in one.

I remember seeing a sign advertising the $0.99 bag of Doritos as 2 for $1.98. I had to do a double-take. Last I checked, 99 plus 99 is 198. I’m not suggesting that I’m the only one that caught on to this, but that there are enough people that will not take notice that it is lucrative to post such signs. In the realm of marketing, truth and ethics take a backseat to misleading exaggeration.

My point is that on a daily basis consumers are being duped, manipulated and exploited simply because it works. I use the term, “consumer” to refer, not only to consumers of merchandise, but consumers of dogma. It is utterly fascinating how many truths or facts are skewed, overlooked or dismissed. Most of us are not paying attention.